Cognitive Behavioral Strategies in the Treatment of Sexual Problems

Abstract

The importance of cognitive mediation in the experience of sexual sensations has long been an accepted, albeit marginally comprehended, tenet among scholars and laymen. The symbolic nature of most aphrodisiacs, designed to stimulate the imagination more than the physiology (e.g., ground rhinoceros’ horns, powdered lions’ penises), further attests to the significance of cognitive processes in sexual activities. The progression of systematic investigation regarding sexuality has followed that of the other behavioral sciences: beginning with external, more easily observable events and eventually including thoughts, feelings, or attitudes as part of the investigatory realm. This strategy has yielded a set of effective therapeutic techniques focusing primarily upon sexual behavior change, which only recently have included specific cognitive interventions.

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